Deceptive Tactics

Almost daily now we come across a website that was obviously set up to take advantage of the unfortunate soul that lands on their page.

Here's an example of a page that is serving up a triple threat! Click on the image for a larger view.

First, they lure you in through the title "Lavasoft adware". Our product is Ad-Aware...not adware. That's the stuff we're fighting. There is also a screenshot of the Ad-Aware user interface. The text on the page is basic information that doesn't serve a purpose at all.

The goal is to get you to click on one of the Google Ads or one of the links at the bottom. Either way, you are going to get sucked in. If you are unlucky, you'll get fed with this Google Ad:

This "company" is notorious for using sneaky and deceptive tactics to lead people into their site to buy the 'product' they offer. When I clicked on it this time there was a menu tab called 'AdwareSE' - and obvious reference to our prior version of Ad-Aware SE. However, they have a myriad of sites set up under this AdwareAlert name, always with a bright red background. And in this case especially, red means danger!!! The menu tabs always change slightly, always trying to sneak in references to legitimate products to make themselves appear legit. Don't buy it!

If the computer user hasn't already become a victim through that click, there are still more at the bottom to catch them. Clicking on any of those remaining links will lead you to generic pages that include both valid and rogue site listings.